By the Red Glare: A Novel

by John Mark Sibley-Jones, Marion B. Lucas (Foreword by)

Overview

This sprawling Civil War novel vividly explores the collapse of the Confederacy as General Sherman marches on the South Carolina capital.

Fear and brutality grip Columbia, South Carolina, in the winter of 1865 as General William Tecumseh Sherman continues his march to the sea and advances on the capital city where secession began. John Mark Sibley-Jones’s By the Red Glare takes us into the lives of representative citizens—black and white, men and women, Confederates and Unionists, civilians and combatants, freed and shackled, sane and insane—on the eve of historic destruction.

The Columbia hospital is overcrowded with wounded soldiers from both sides and old animosities threaten an outbreak of violence in this place of healing. Less than two miles from the hospital stands the Lunatic Asylum, whose yard is occupied by hundreds of prisoners—some of whom are plotting a risky escape. In the heart of the city, Confederate leaders gather with General James Chesnut to plan a battle strategy, only to hear cannon fire announcing the arrival of Sherman’s troops.

Foreword by historian Marion B. Lucas, author of Sherman and the Burning of Columbia

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611174007
Publisher:	University of South Carolina Press
Publication date:	11/12/2021
Series:	Story River Books
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	246
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John Mark Sibley-Jones teaches English at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities in Greenville. Prior to moving to Greenville, he taught English literature for fifteen years at the University of South Carolina, where he won several teaching awards, including the Michael A. Hill Outstanding Honors Faculty Award. Sibley-Jones has published more than fifty academic and professional articles and two short stories. He has been a finalist in several national fiction competitions. This is his first novel.

What People are Saying About This

Marion B. Lucas

Against a backdrop of widespread fear and sectional animosity, John Mark Sibley-Jones captures the dramatic world of Columbia on the cusp of its historic burning in this craftily written and thoroughly researched novel. In a seamless blending of art and history, Sibley-Jones combines a handful of Columbia's famous residents during the closing days of the Civil War with living, breathing imaginary characters who carry his complex and compelling narrative.

George Singleton

Gritty, real, and at times horrifying, By the Red Glare is a must read for Civil War enthusiasts. Sherman may have burned down Columbia, but Sibley-Jones has resurrected the city in vivid detail.

Ron Rash

By the Red Glare does what only the best historical novels can do: it enables readers to feel more like participants than observers. Sibley-Jones has written a Civil War novel that deserves a wide and appreciative audience.

Editorial Reviews

Refreshingly, John Mark Sibley-Jones' novel is commendably devoid of the usual cliches, holds romanticized notions of the Civil War and antebellum life to scrutiny and invests its story with depth and richly drawn lead characters.... 'By the Red Glare' should appeal to a discerning reader of Civil War-era fiction and history, those drawn to anti-war fiction, and someone who expects more from a novel than stock characterizations and moonlight-and-magnolias mythos.

Charleston Post & Courier

By the Red Glare establishes Mark Sibley-Jones as a fine new voice in southern fiction. With great skill and ample ambition, he gives us a deeply felt human story of love, labor, and liberty set against a moment of horrid and grandiose destruction, the origins and implications of which are contested in history and lore to this day—the burning of Columbia, South Carolina. Sibley-Jones's characters, both historical and invented, loom up as great symbols of the cruelty and courage inherent in the Civil War-torn South, but the truths we glean from their riveting story resonate still today, passing the test of historical fiction with high honors.

Pat Conroy

"Refreshingly, John Mark Sibley-Jones' novel is commendably devoid of the usual cliches, holds romanticized notions of the Civil War and antebellum life to scrutiny and invests its story with depth and richly drawn lead characters. . . . 'By the Red Glare' should appeal to a discerning reader of Civil War-era fiction and history, those drawn to anti-war fiction, and someone who expects more from a novel than stock characterizations and moonlight-and-magnolias mythos."--Charleston Post & Courier


"By the Red Glare does what only the best historical novels can do: it enables readers to feel more like participants than observers. Sibley-Jones has written a Civil War novel that deserves a wide and appreciative audience."--Ron Rash, author of Above the Waterfall


"By the Red Glare establishes Mark Sibley-Jones as a fine new voice in southern fiction. With great skill and ample ambition, he gives us a deeply felt human story of love, labor, and liberty set against a moment of horrid and grandiose destruction, the origins and implications of which are contested in history and lore to this day--the burning of Columbia, South Carolina. Sibley-Jones's characters, both historical and invented, loom up as great symbols of the cruelty and courage inherent in the Civil War-torn South, but the truths we glean from their riveting story resonate still today, passing the test of historical fiction with high honors."--Pat Conroy


"Against a backdrop of widespread fear and sectional animosity, John Mark Sibley-Jones captures the dramatic world of Columbia on the cusp of its historic burning in this craftily written and thoroughly researched novel. In a seamless blending of art and history, Sibley-Jones combines a handful of Columbia's famous residents during the closing days of the Civil War with living, breathing imaginary characters who carry his complex and compelling narrative."--Marion B. Lucas, from the foreword

From the Publisher